A Wintry Trip to Prince George - 3 days on the road, and we're gonna make it home today!

Howard: Make sure you take your coat, your boots, your mitts, your hat .... it's not like this up there, you know.

Me: Yes, I know. I have it all. And it's really warm and cozy in Neil's big white truck.

Howard: Yeah, but something could happen more than a flat tire, you might be stuck in the middle of nowhere in a huge blizzard with whiteout conditions, avalanches, and you could be days with no heat, no food .... in fact, you could freeze to death if you forget your scarf.

Okay. Maybe he didn't go that far, but I'm sure he was thinking it. However, I have a bit more faith in our Professional Driver and his ability to keep his mommy safe and warm on a wintry trip to Prince George. And as far as running out of food? I don't think so. 

Besides that, it was quite nice in Surrey when we left - sunny and not even cold enough for fur coats.

However, by the time we reached 100 Mile House, both the night and the snow started falling.

 We stopped to unload a bunch of grub at a Save On Foods .... it was definitely winter here. .

And on we went. The roads became really snow covered and slippery, with lots of slushy spray splashing on our window from passing vehicles. Dropping temps made the window ice up, and the wiper on Neil's side just gave up the ghost north of Williams Lake, leaving him with just a little viewing space. That sort of made me a wee bit happier, as it meant we had to pull into a much safer rest stop. This was a trip where my knuckles were definitely whiter, and my butt definitely more of an edge-of-the-seater.

We were pretty much way behind time anyway, as we really should have been dropping a load at Prince George by then, but dispatch couldn't find any repair people willing to drive out of anywhere to replace the wiper, so we ending up spending the night - safe and warm in the cozy truck. So much for Howard's 'told you so.' I knew that would come eventually.

This was the scene that met our eyes in the morning.

 

See that little brown building? Guess who hadn't peed in well over 12 hours? Yes, you may be thinking, she'll just have to hold it in until they reach another Husky. In fact, that was what I was thinking too, until I thought that no animal or bug in its right mind would be out in such cold weather just waiting to see who was going to sit on the toilet, so I actually hauled on my (too short) boots and headed over.

At least my socks didn't get wet when I plowed my way through all that virgin snow, beating a path for all the brave strong truckers who would follow my footsteps as the morning progressed. That's because I wasn't wearing any socks - which left more room for snow in my boots. It was all ... good, I guess ... until I went to close the door behind me. That's when I realized that the snow that had drifted up against the door had fallen inside, and now I couldn't close the door until I kicked it all out of the way. However, there were no big noisy flies buzzing around inside, and no rat footprints or bear cubs hiding behind the toilet. So I really braved up, took care of business, and made it back to the truck.

(I still think about the time I went into an outdoor toilet at Tynehead Park during a long bike ride and after a gallon of water - everything was good until I lifted the lid and about 3 thousand shithouse flies rose like a cloud from the bottomless pit. I just couldn't do it. I was out of there like the proverbial bat).

So then we had to backtrack about 20 km to Williams Lake to get a new wiper.

It just took a few minutes at the Freightliner repair garage for someone to climb up on the truck and replace the wiper, then we were on the road again.

At least it wasn't snowing now, and it seemed we were going in the right direction - those long long hills we were going down weren't particularly friendly to the truckers that were trying to get up them.

In fact, we met two semis being towed uphill. Neil said they were 'spun out', and that means the wheels on the truck go round and round, but the truck goes nowhere, and it could happen when the load that is being hauled is heavier than the tractor. And the loads usually are.

I must admit, even though I'm not fussy about winter, cold temps and snow, there were tons of pretty on the way.

These black clouds looked a bit ominous, but they were over somewhere far far away, and didn't cause any grief at all.

There were a couple of long hills with oodles of vehicles lined up, waiting for semis to get hooked up to tow trucks, and traffic to move on. We were lucky we were going north instead of south, and by the time we were driving back home everything was a lot better.

I must admit, daytime driving was a lot easier on the nerves than nighttime driving. And clear windows made it all much better! See? We got LOTS of room!

Blue skies, and a truly winter wonderland.

 

We finally did make it to Prince George, a bit past our last night deadline, but better late than never, I guess. We had a really late breakfast at the Husky, then headed a bit farther to pick up a load of pulp at a Pulp Mill.

And it's a turn around, heading back home and driving into a pretty sunset. Thank goodness the snow had stopped, and the roads very much improved. The plan was to drive as far as we could before we stopped for another 8-hour sleepover, hopefully in the comforting shadow of a Husky truck stop.

This is a big reason why I wouldn't want Neil's job - the long lonely highway is a lot lonelier and seems a lot longer in the night.

We reached the Husky at Cache Creek, and pulled over for the night. I ran inside - it was so bitterly cold with the wind chill factor, my coat and hat didn't do me a lot of good. The huge flag was whipping around, catching the wind like a sail and making its own thunderous music. Brrrrrrr. Make that a double Brrrrr.

After another sleepful night, we were on the final leg of the trip. The snow slowly disappeared, leaving winter farther behind. I am always amazed at the changes in the landscape - bye bye Christmas trees, hello sagebrush!

Here the snow doesn't even cover the crop circles!

There wasn't much snow in the Canyon.

Beautiful, no matter what season!

 

 We pulled over at Jackass Mountain Pass for a break. Even though it was cold I braved up enough to hop out for a quick photo shoot. I LOVE my iPhone camera!

We drove by so many gorgeous icefalls.

We know by the time we hit the tunnels, we are really on the last stretch of our trip!  I thought this one made a very pretty frame for the picture!

I'm glad to say, my hands didn't remain idle on this trip, as I brought sticks and thread with me. I have been knitting a bit lately, after an almost 3 year hiatus. I'm a lot slower than I used to be (not only at knitting, either!) but like everything I do, I soldier on.

And here we are, back in the lower mainland, going over the Alex Fraser bridge. Look up ... way up. These little bumps on the high part are actually two people - I guess they are doing some sort of maintenance. Another reason to love the job you've got, especially if you get to keep both feet on the ground!